Nov. 6—MITCHELL — It was a top-10 women’s college basketball matchup in November worthy of March.
But early in the season, it was Dakota State’s night to earn a rivalry win.
A pair of key runs on both sides of the halftime break from No. 6 Dakota State proved to be the difference in the victory over No. 9 Dakota Wesleyan in a 74-62 decision on Wednesday at the Corn Palace in the “Battle of the Blues” basketball rivalry series.
The loss was a rare one for the Tigers at home, falling for the first time to a non-conference opponent at home since 2011, ending a streak of 26-straight wins at the Palace against non-GPAC teams.
“They were a little more athletic than we were tonight,” DWU coach Jason Christensen said after the game. “I thought free throws and turnovers and missed shots in the paint were probably the three things that stuck out the most at me. … We just didn’t handle their pressure very well, and then in the third quarter, we just didn’t play very well.”
The game changed in the middle 10 minutes of the contest. DWU led 29-22 with 6:10 remaining in the first half, thanks to a fast start from Avery Broughton, who had 10 points in the first two quarters. But the Trojans closed the half on a 13-2 run to carry a 35-31 edge into the intermission. Coming out of halftime, DWU quickly tied the game at 35-all with back-to-back baskets from Rylee Rosenquist, but the Trojans quickly took the lead out to 11 points on another 13-2 run for a 48-37 lead with nearly 5 1/2 minutes elapsed in the second half, making it a 26-8 turnaround for the Trojans in 11:37 of game time.
DSU turned on the defensive pressure in the second quarter and never looked back, forcing 14 of the Tigers’ 17 turnovers from that point onward, and after a 9-for-17 start shooting in the first quarter, the Tigers were kept to 33.3% shooting. DWU pulled to within eight points with 7:35 remaining but couldn’t get any closer, trading scores and stops and being unable to eat into the DSU lead.
“Dakota State played really well tonight,” Christensen said. “You have to give them the credit. They really battled on the boards. … You can see we’re just trying to learn how to play with each other. We have to play together because right now, we’re just not there yet in terms of playing together.”
Broughton led the Tigers with 16 points, five rebounds, and four assists. Emma Yost added a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds, along with five assists. Shalayne Nagel scored eight points and grabbed six rebounds, Mya Wilson had six rebounds and Lizzie Pavlis tallied seven rebounds. DWU shot 12-for-22 as a team from the free-throw line.
Aside from the top-10 preseason rankings, the matchup involved two teams that were among the final 16 in Sioux City for the NAIA women’s basketball national tournament last season, and it was the Tigers’ home opener after a pair of wins over the weekend in Oklahoma and Kansas.
“We’ve seen three different styles of basketball and that should prepare us going down the road because that’s pretty much what we’re going to see,” Christensen said. “There were some things we handled well but (DSU), that’s a national tournament team and they’re going to go deep.”
The Trojans made 12 3-pointers on 36 attempts, including seven from freshman Kenzi Simmons off the bench, who had a game-high 23 points. Bria Wasmund had 15 points and West Central graduate Tabor Teel had 14 points and 15 rebounds for DSU, which started a span of playing three consecutive top-10 Great Plains Athletic Conference teams on Wednesday. They host No. 5 Concordia (Neb.) on Saturday and play No. 1 Dordt on Nov. 13 in Sioux Falls.
“We try to play fast, free and fun and DWU, they’re an incredibly well-coached and really good team,” DSU coach David Moe said. “We tried to take them out of their rhythm with some of our trapping and rotating and I think our effort tonight was really, really good, especially on the defensive end.”
DWU (2-1) is back on the Corn Palace floor on Tuesday, Nov. 12, hosting another North Star Athletic Association foe when Valley City State visits for a 7 p.m. tipoff.
NOTES: Wednesday was DSU’s first win in Mitchell since Nov. 17, 2007, snapping a nine-game road losing streak against the Tigers. … Fans got to see the GPAC’s replay review system in action when DWU’s Mya Wilson was hit in the face and bloodied with 8:26 left in the fourth quarter over a potential elbowing. After about two minutes of reviewing the stream on an iPad, the officials did not add a flagrant foul. … The basketball rivalry is sponsored by BankWest, with the South Dakota banking company awarding a gold basketball trophy to the winner of each game on Wednesday. Players also wore rivalry branded T-shirts for warmups.
Dakota State 74, Dakota Wesleyan 62
Dakota State (2-1): Bria Wasmund 5-16 2-4 15 Tabor Teel 6-14 2-2 14 Angela Slattery 2-7 0-0 5 Lilli Mackley 1-10 0-0 3 Cierra Watkins 3-6 1-2 7 Molli Thornton 1-2 0-0 2 Kenzi Simmons 8-14 0-0 23 Olivia Ritter 0-4 0-2 0 Hamtyn Heinz 0-1 0-0 0 Tia Murray 2-3 1-2 5 Totals 28-77 6-12 74
Dakota Wesleyan (2-1): Avery Broughton 7-16 0-2 16 Mya Wilson 1-2 3-4 5 Emma Yost 4-14 5-6 13 Rylee Rosenquist 2-6 0-2 4 Shalayne Nagel 4-12 0-1 8 Jaida Young 0-0 2-2 2 Maleighya Estes 3-7 1-1 7 Lizzie Pavlis 2-3 1-2 5 Liz Olson 1-2 0-2 2 Totals 24-62 12-22 62
DSU 17 35 55 74
DWU 20 31 45 62
3-pointers: DSU 12-36 (Simmons 7-12, Wasmund 3-11, Slattery 1-3, Mackley 1-7, Watkins 0-1, Ritter 0-1, Heinz 0-1), DWU 2-12 (Broughton 2-8, Wilson 0-1, Yost 0-1, Rosenquist 0-1, Nagel 0-1). Rebounds-offensive: DSU 39-13 (Teel 15, Mackley 7), DWU 48-15 (Yost 11, Pavlis 7, Wilson 6, Nagel 6, Estes 6). Assists: DSU 14 (Wasmund 5), DWU 17 (Wilson 5, Yost 5, Broughton 4). Total fouls: DSU 16, DWU 17. Fouled out: Rosenquist (4th, 3:25). Turnovers: DSU 9, DWU 17. Steals: DSU 11 (Watkins 4), DWU 5 (Broughton, Wilson, Yost, Rosenquist, Nagel). Blocks: DSU 6 (Teel 2, Simmons 2), DWU 4 (Broughton 2)
